Frequently Asked Questions

We work in focused 4-hour sessions, and core features — payments included — are usually done within one or two sessions. Every session ends with the result deployed to a server, so you always receive something that actually runs.

Yes. With AI, the cost of writing code has dropped so much that building an MVP first and refining it in use beats perfecting a spec up front. Features are prioritized and built in stages, and if you know your own business, that is the plan — no separate product planner needed.

In the AI era, verification matters more than writing. On top of automated tests, a developer with 23 years of experience reviews everything, we walk through features together on screen share during sessions, and you test them yourself. Most issues found are fixed within a prompt or two.

Risky low prices come with three signals — a quote given without any questions about your requirements, starting work without a contract, and no plan for after launch. heyjames does the opposite of all three. Our price is lower for one reason: deep AI leverage and 23 years of experience mean the same work takes us less time.

You can cancel the session any time within the first 30 minutes after it starts, and if you do, we refund the full amount you paid. If we can't show you a satisfying result within those first 30 minutes, we return 100% of your payment — no questions asked. That's how confident we are in the outcome.

Unlike traditional outsourcing, there's no per-change quote. Because we bill by build complexity and difficulty, you don't have to lock the scope in advance — request and change as much as the time allows, and a reference screenshot is usually all we need to build the screen you want.

There's no upfront payment. Cost is based on the complexity and difficulty of the build. Your project page shows clear per-item pricing — the initial build and each change request as separate line items, with a running total. You're only billed for feature changes and additions; bug fixes are always free.

Once the unsettled balance reaches 2,000,000 KRW, you settle before the next change request can proceed. Until then you can keep requesting changes without paying. With many revisions the total bill can exceed 2M KRW — in that case you simply settle in 2M increments and keep going. You can also pay early anytime to receive instructions for the source code and usage guide. Payment is by bank transfer, processed as soon as the deposit is confirmed.

Your app is deployed to a test server, so you can use it right away — even before paying. We'll send instructions for the full source code and usage guide once the accumulated balance is settled.

We only work with a standard written contract. It explicitly covers copyright and source-code transfer, acceptance criteria and review period, the scope of free defect repairs, and the change-request process. Under court precedent, copyright stays with the developer unless the contract says otherwise — wherever you commission work, check for that clause. We include it up front.

Development is followed by an annual maintenance contract. Change requests and questions are handled against a time balance, we hand over documentation when the contract ends, and if you hire a developer we'll walk them through the code.

Defect repair means fixing, free of charge, anything that was contracted to work but doesn't — provided for 6 months after delivery. New features and improvements are maintenance (paid), with scope, response time, and cost defined in writing before we proceed. Keeping the two separate in the contract is what prevents disputes later.

Yes. If you'd like, we set up an AI coding environment (Claude Code) on your machine and train you to use it. No need to study code — copy and screen tweaks can be done with prompts, and anything you get stuck on we sort out together in a session.

Yes. As a Toss Payments partner we help you apply with the sign-up fee waived, and we implement both one-time and subscription payments. We build against test keys first — swap in your keys and real payments go live.

We build so that a server costing a few dollars a month handles tens of thousands of users. Because we use a proven full-stack framework instead of stacks whose bills explode with usage, you simply upgrade the server step by step as you grow.

Yes. We prepare the paperwork such programs require — outsourcing contracts, development plans, and completion reports. With extensive experience both judging and delivering government-funded projects, we work to each agency's requirements. We also issue the full set of settlement documents — statements of work, photo-documented inspection reports, and tax invoices — and handle prior-approval and multiple-quote procedures for larger contracts.

Yes. Every service we build is a standard Ruby on Rails web application with no platform lock-in. You can receive the full source code as-is, and we can push it to your own GitHub repository so future changes are tracked there too. Separately from handing over the code, copyright transfer is written into the contract — receiving the files and receiving the rights are legally different things.

Yes. We support outbound API calls, webhooks fired on events, and connecting your own engine (Python or otherwise) as a separate API server. We can also build a public API with an OpenAPI schema so AI agents like Custom GPT Actions can call your service.

The initial version is stored in dedicated storage on servers we operate in Korea. When you move to production, we migrate the database and file storage to cloud infrastructure you own (e.g. AWS Seoul region).

Yes. The app is designed as a multi-tenant system where every query is scoped to the signed-in account's company, blocking cross-company access at the code level. If you need a physically separate database or server, we can set that up as a dedicated build.

Yes. Deleting removes both the database record and the actual file in storage immediately. Backup retention and disposal policies are designed around your privacy requirements.

The service has no screens for browsing client data, and server access is used only for operations such as incident response. Once you migrate to infrastructure you own, your data is entirely under your control.

Sensitive values such as API keys and passwords are managed with encrypted configuration files (Rails encrypted credentials), with the decryption key stored separately. Nothing is stored in plain text in the database or source code.

Yes. The domain is registered under your name, and the database, file storage, and backups are all migrated to your own accounts. Test accounts and demo data are cleaned up at handover.

Copyright, source code, server and domain accounts, and deployment docs are all transferred to your name, so the service runs perfectly well without heyjames. You can maintain it yourself, hire another agency, or come back for spot requests. Not locking you in is the principle.